“Wait until you turn thirty,” I threaten my sister, but she just laughs and takes a photograph.
So I dive in. Not into the cake, but into Brie’s party. Charlotte is sitting on a chair in the living room, gleaming as if someone is celebrating the birth of her own daughter, and her pride strengthens me.
“Can I have a piece of cake?” It’s Michael, the boy who educated everyone in the store about his new underpants. His mother nods to signal her consent.
“I believe there’s a piece of cake just for you,” I say, ruffling his hair.
“Cake for everyone,” Brie announces like it’s a story-time snack,and the kids around us cheer. I’m thankful that the spotlight has turned and the cake is right smack in the center.
A red paper plate in hand, I scoop up a corner piece and lower it to Michael with much pomp and circumstance. Then Brie slices, I serve the cake along with a scoop of ice cream for each plate, and everyone seems happy. My sister is right in her element, entertaining this crowd in her home.
Charlotte steps up to the counter and serves herself two scoops of chocolate ice cream, no cake. “Surprise,” she says, kissing my cheek. “The best in your life is yet to come.”
If she weren’t holding a plate of ice cream, I’d hug her. “I think I’ve already had the best, thanks to you and Brie.”
“Thanks to the Lord. It’s hard to imagine, but He loves you even more than I ever could.” She takes a bite of the ice cream and nods toward the small group circled around Brie. “I think having a sister who loves you must be one of the greatest blessings of all.”
“She’s certainly a blessing to me.”
Around nine, the guests begin to fade away like clams claimed by the sea, the tide calling them home. Charlotte kisses my cheek again before driving her Prius away on her own, and Ethan wrangles each twin upstairs for bed.
Once everyone is gone, Brie slides down to the crumb-covered floor, leaning her head back against the wall. “That was a disaster.”
I shove a plate out of the way with my toe before sitting beside her. Instead of flowing away with the tide, I want to dig myself deep into the sand. “It was fabulous.”
“Are you certain?”
“I loved it. Truly.”
She sighs. “That’s the important thing.”
“And I love that you did this for me. Award for best sister ever goes to you.”
“I wish we had more family here who could celebrate with you.”
“Our family would have only caused chaos.”
I’ve never had any contact with my mother’s relatives, and no one on our father’s side of the family seemed to care much about us—or him, for that matter, while he was alive. When he died, Brie reached out to his family with the news that Arthur Randall was gone, his arteries clogged by smoke. She courageously reached out, but no one in the family reached back in. I figured they were afraid Arthur’s daughters would ask them for money.
Ethan has a large extended family who bicker among themselves and debate about everything from who should win the Super Bowl to what sort of sauce belongs on ravioli. Ultimately, they love each other to pieces, no holds barred. For Brie, joining the Goretti family was like finding her way home. She slipped easily into their chaos, contributing quite well to it all.
“I wanted to give you something special for your birthday,” Brie says.
“You outdid yourself.”
“This was a party, not a gift.”
I lean my head back against a cabinet. “You don’t need to give me a gift.”
“That’s good because you already have theBambibook I bought for you. Or at least, the professor has it.”
“He’s going to bring it back.”
Ethan slips into the kitchen, standing beside his wife. When Brie glances up at him, a look passes between them. Love in the deepest of forms, grounded in crumbs and kids and complete exhaustion.
I’m envious of their relationship, but also insanely happy thatmy sister found a man who clearly adores her, a man who has given her what she desired most in life. And he’s given her plenty of other good things along with a family—a beautiful home, security, a love that will undoubtedly last a lifetime.
She wants the same for me, but I’ve told her repeatedly that I don’t thrive on noise, that I’m plenty satisfied with the blessing of my small family—a sister in Brie, my amazing nephews, an aunt in Charlotte.
